Rise of the New Black Radicals
4/29/2015
Chris Hedges:
Article
Older black leaders have clearly failed black America. Just look at conditions of black communities in American cities. Young black militants are a sign of hope for justice.

Disruption and Sacrifice in Social Movements
12/11/2014
Mark Engler:
Article
As widespread demonstrations against police violence continue around the country it my be helpful to consider factors involved in movements successful in changing systems, strategic nonviolence.

Organizing for Environmental Justice
9/18/2014
Brentin Mock:
Article
Here are practical means to organize local communities taking race and civil rights into account in policy planning for environmental justice and climate change, like a project in Spartanburg, S.C.

A Polycentric U.S. Social Forum in Summer, 2015
8/11/2014
Shamako Noble:
Article
To form a new People’s Movement for justice, equality, human rights and democracy forums will be held in Philadelphia, Pa., Jackson, Ms., and San Jose, Ca.

The Surprising Mass Protests in Brazil
7/26/2013
Alfredo Saad Filho:
Article
Three lessons are discussed concerning the millions of people recently protesting in Brazil, along with four political implications.

Summer Heat: We Are All Needed, Now More Than Ever
5/15/2013
Bill McKibben:
Article
Things will really heat up the last two weeks of July this year. To address climate change, people are organizing multiple action events, some leading to arrest. Join this effort now!

Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt
7/27/2012
Chris Hedges:
Article
An interview by Bill Moyers of Chris Hedges about his new book with Joe Sacco. Concrete examples of how corporate power is killing communities and democracy.

A Stunning Triumph for the Occupy Movement
11/21/2011
Andy Kroll:
Article
Changing the terms of public debate from austerity to inequality has already had many broad effects, including victory in Ohio for opposition to Governor John Kasich's anti-union bill.

Help Rebuild the American Dream
8/17/2011
Aaron Krager:
Article
A new movement led by Van Jones is bringing together major progressive organizations to fight the Tea Party and elect new leaders. New people are needed to run for office!!!

Wisconsin Hope: The Moral Basis of American Democracy
2/20/2011
George Lakoff:
Article
The use of deficits to attack unions and public services is a false framing of current issues. Democratic leaders must reframe issues according to a fundamental moral and democratic commitment.

Organizing the Egyptian Rebellion
2/9/2011
Mark Engler:
Article
What is going on in Egypt is not spontaneous and leaderless but represents the art of unarmed uprising. Here are some notes on movement theory.

It's Time for Action Against Obama Policies
12/10/2010
Ed Knudson:
Article
Extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy is only one of the many ways Obama has betrayed the visions and expectations of his campaign for president. It is time now to actively protest.

Congregations Organize the Jobless
12/7/2010
Art Levine:
Article
Employment Support Committees are being organized in 1000 congregations not only for charity but to fight for major federal jobs programs, assisted by three senators.

A Political Strategy for Our Times: Progressive Populism
4/12/2010
Sam Smith:
Article
Economic improvement, treating voters decently, and respect for the small in government. Just three good principles to help get a new politics going. And a lot of it has to do with style and tone.

A Winning Values Strategy for Liberals
11/29/2004
Article
George Lakoff summarizes his book on Moral Politics in this brief article. The book can also be helpful to parents in how to raise their children.

Promoting a Religious Left
11/22/2004
Byron Williams:
Article
Progressive Christians must be leery of duplicating the evangelical right by becoming aligned with one political party.

The Democratic City of the Future
2/21/2003
Article
A new Democratic majority is emerging uniting city and suburb against still Republican rural areas according to authors John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira.

In this section the focus is on the call to "organize", to create and support action groups and networks of citizens at both the community and global levels to address critical issues and influence the behavior of both business and government. This includes:

Community Organizing on the local level which can be an important outreach and mission strategy for local congregations.

Political Organizing from local to world levels both through partisan politics and through advocacy groups.

Union Organizing bringing together workers in various industries to advocate for justice in the ways the fruits and benefits of enterprise are distributed.

If you are involved in any form of organizing please tell us something about it. We would like to assist in any way we can.

Online Resources

Waging Nonviolence. A source for original news and analysis about struggles for justice and peace around the globe.

Left Movement Directory. One of the most complete directories of all sorts of groups oriented to the political "left" maintained by the Brecht Forum.

Organizing Upgrade. Organizing Upgrade is an attempt to engage left leaders and innovators in the field of community organizing in a strategic dialogue. We hope that this project can bring the kind of inspiration, vision and strategic clarity we need to strengthen our political impact, both in our immediate fight and in our longer-term efforts to build the social justice movement and to revitalize a movement-rooted left in the United States. We hope that, by encouraging some of the leading innovators and leaders from the sphere of community organizing to put pen to paper and to speak their mind, we can develop unity and clarity about the key demands on left organizers in these times.

Online Networking can be a way to connect with others. Here are some places to do so:

DailyKos. Very popular, lots of daily talk on practical politics and strategy from the moderate left, run by Markos Moulitsas and involves peer moderation.

Smirking Chimp. Very active, go here to vent, get after Bush, see what's making people mad.

MyDD. A political blog by Jerome Armstrong and Chris Bowers who write articles and others comment on them.

Eschaton. A personal site of Duncan Black, a 32 year old recovering economist living in Center City Philadelphia. It has been online since April, 2002, and currently gets an average of over 100,000 visits per day.

Democratic Underground. One of the premier left-wing websites on the Internet, publishing original content six days a week, and hosting one of the web's most active left-wing discussion boards.

MoveOn. Not a discussion board, but you can get on their mailing list.

Free Republic. This is a popular discussion site for the righteous right. To read news from the right and read columns by Jerry Falwell, Limbaugh, and Weyrich, go to Newsmax funded by conservative billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife.

Townhall.com. Portal site to conservative commentators, columnists, and discussion.

The heart of organizing is real conversation in one on one relationships. Cesar Chavez once said, "First you talk to one person, then you talk to another person, then you talk to another person..." So organizing begins where people talk, and talk honestly with one another. Be ready to hear "the pain of the other", be ready to be able to see where the other person is hurting, and try to be real, that is, to identify the real powers that are causing the pain. Then join with others to resist those powers. This is the essence of organizing, one on one relationships, doing what Jesus did, loving the neighbor in the specific circumstances in which you meet him or her, building new communities of peace and justice.

Another key aspect of organizing is good research. Among the many politically-oriented research organizations today we especially recommend the Center for American Progress. Public Agenda is a good place to start for research on public issues.

It is worth noting here that two formal institutional structures dominate public life today: business corporations and government. People of faith work within these structures and the Center for Public Theology wants to be a resource for them and also ask them to help us find the best ways and means to influence these institutions.

And there is a third type of institutional structure also very important at this time in history, sometimes called Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) on the world level or non-profit organizations at the community level. Church organizations fall within this definition which are the focus in the Church section of this website. It is often through such groups that organizing is done and in the various pages of this section we will present organizing opportunities through these groups.